Campeche - a treasure on Yucatan's Gulf coast

Yucatecan city a fantasy of 18th and 19th century mansions, domed churches, cobbles

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, January 25, 2009

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To The Chronicle

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Edzn? Archaeological site, Campeche, Mexico -- With fewer visitors in a year than Chich?n Itz? gets in a day, the natural beauty and architectural magnificence of Edzn?, less than 45 minutes outside of Campeche, is easier to absorb. Built at a crossroads between cities in today�s Chiapas and Yucat?n states and Guatemala, it shows influences from all three. The Pir?mide de los Cinco Pisos (Five-Story Pyramid), here, was built on the raised platform of the Gran Acr?polis. less

Edzn? Archaeological site, Campeche, Mexico -- With fewer visitors in a year than Chich?n Itz? gets in a day, the natural beauty and architectural magnificence of Edzn?, less than 45 minutes outside of ... more

Campeche, Mexico -- Fuerte San Miguel, Campeche's southern bastion, is now an ecological park that also houses the Museo de la Cultura Maya, displaying findings from archaeological sites throughout the state of Campeche. less

Campeche, Mexico -- Fuerte San Miguel, Campeche's southern bastion, is now an ecological park that also houses the Museo de la Cultura Maya, displaying findings from archaeological sites throughout the state of ... more

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To The Chronicle

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Hacienda Uayamon, Campeche, Mexico -- Unlike the Yucat?n�s other haciendas, which were substantially (or thoroughly) restored for the conversion into a hotel, Hacienda Uayamon still looks like a ruin, darkened by time and missing random pieces -- but within the crumbling walls, interiors are luxuriously modern, air-conditioned and in perfect repair. less

Hacienda Uayamon, Campeche, Mexico -- Unlike the Yucat?n�s other haciendas, which were substantially (or thoroughly) restored for the conversion into a hotel, Hacienda Uayamon still looks like a ruin, ... more

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To The Chronicle

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Campeche, Mexico -- Campeche, Mexico -- The city's northern fort, Reducto del San Jos?, was built in 1792 and now houses the Museo de Barcas y Armas, displaying ships and weapons in former soldiers' quarters. Its sloping lawns serve as a park where Campechanos enjoy many a sunset. less

Campeche, Mexico -- Campeche, Mexico -- The city's northern fort, Reducto del San Jos?, was built in 1792 and now houses the Museo de Barcas y Armas, displaying ships and weapons in former soldiers' quarters. ... more

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To The Chronicle

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Campeche, Mexico -- Fuerte San Miguel, Campeche's southern bastion, is now an ecological park that also houses the Museo de la Cultura Maya, displaying findings from archaeological sites throughout the state of Campeche. less

Campeche, Mexico -- Fuerte San Miguel, Campeche's southern bastion, is now an ecological park that also houses the Museo de la Cultura Maya, displaying findings from archaeological sites throughout the state of ... more

Photo: Christine Delsol, Special To The Chronicle

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Campeche - a treasure on Yucatan's Gulf coast

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My eyes widened at the pillars, archways, tiled floors and tall wooden doors as my guide told me I could stay at the Hotel Castelmar for $72 a night.

"Steven Soderbergh stayed here when he was filming 'The Argentine' last month," he added, pride seeping through his studied casualness.

"Well, no, he stayed at the Hacienda Puerta Campeche," he said, referring to the block of 17th century mansions a few blocks away, which Starwood Hotels reconfigured into a $350-plus luxury hotel in 2004.

After wandering the city's historic center, it made perfect sense that Soderbergh chose Campeche for the first half of his two-part epic on the life of Che Guevara, which opened last week. The city stands in for Santa Clara, the Cuban township where the legendary hero fought the decisive battle of the Cuban revolution.

Campeche lies about halfway down Yucatán's Gulf of Mexico coast but has more in common with the Caribbean than with most of Mexico. Its splendidly preserved historic core is a Baroque fantasy of 18th and 19th century mansions, domed churches, cobblestone and wrought-iron street lamps. Buildings recoated in their original confectionery pastel hues now house busy shops, restaurants, cafes and museums.

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The jarana music pouring out of homes, cars and restaurants is driven by an Afro-Caribbean beat, sweetened by clarinets and saxophones. Capt. Jack Sparrow would be right at home with the constant reminders of the pirate scourge that shaped Campeche's history. The cuisine, a blend of Yucatecan classics and Spanish dishes and recipes brought by pirates from all over the world, is redolent with capers, pickled onions and saffron. And any traveler who can find a more compelling sunset than the celestial conflagration that stops joggers, strollers and squealing children in their tracks every evening on Campeche's malecón (seafront walk), let me know. I will be on the next plane.

To complete the picture, the city is flanked by two forts that call Old San Juan to mind. They guarded the fortification wall completed in 1668 to ward off pirate attacks; Campeche is one of only three walled cities that Europeans built in the Western Hemisphere (Quebec City and Cartagena, Colombia, are the others).

It all adds up to the most beautiful city that hardly anyone visits. The average Cancún tourist doesn't even know Campeche is part of the Yucatán.

I'm here to tell you what they're missing. Since UNESCO declared Campeche a World Heritage site in 1999, the entire historic center within the city wall has been restored; there's nary a crumbling facade nor a pile of rubble in all 44 blocks. Narrow, diligently swept cobblestone streets and underground wiring enhance the Old World ambience. The grand mansions, monumental government buildings and ornate churches can be sampled in a day, but the city's more than 1,600 refurbished facades and hundreds of completely renovated buildings can easily be savored for a week.

Pirates of the Caribbean

From the third century A.D., Campeche was the principal town of the Maya kingdom of Ah Kin Pech ("place of serpents and ticks"). The first Spanish explorer, Francisco de Córdoba, stopped nearby in 1517, to replenish his water supply, but was killed, along with his entire crew, when they didn't move along quickly enough.

Native resistance kept the Spanish at bay until Montejo the Younger (founder of Mérida) gained a foothold in 1540. Campeche's port fueled Spanish expansion into the Yucatán and soon became one of New Spain's richest ports, funneling timber, gold, silver and other Yucatecan products to Europe.

The bounty did not escape the notice of Spain's rivals. The list of pillagers who descended on the city reads like a casting call for "Pirates of the Caribbean," from the famous Dutch buccaneer Peg Leg to British privateers Henry Morgan and Francis Drake (a knight by any other name ...). Campeche finally persuaded the Spanish crown to build an 11-foot-thick wall around the city; moat-and-drawbridge forts were added for good measure.

The colonial heart

As with all Latin American cities, the zócalo, or central square, is the best place to get a sense of history superimposed over contemporary life. Campeche's Parque Principal - formally named Plaza de la Independencia, between Calles 8 and 10 and Calles 57 and 55 - is a modest but exceedingly pretty square enclosed by an ironwork fence and ringed by tiled benches. The porticoes on the west side, now housing shops and restaurants, are conspicuous in scenes from "The Argentine."

In the heat of the day, congenial campechanos cool off here with a cup of ice cream in the shade. On weekend evenings, the plaza comes alive as surrounding streets are closed and food and game tables go up in front of the cathedral. Entertainment may be a rock band, a traditional dance troupe, a celebrity impersonator or the state band's rendition of classic campechano songs and show music.

My favorite colonial building is Casa 6, which delivers a glimpse of life as lived by the Spanish elite. You can wander through an arcaded interior courtyard, a sitting room furnished with Cuban period pieces, a huge bedroom with a patch of original wallpaper exposed and a traditional stucco and terra cotta kitchen similar to what campechanos use today. The front of the house, where the owners' store would have been, is now a cultural center with a patio restaurant, bookstore and art gallery. Casa 6 also hosts a tourist information center that rents audio guides in English and four other languages for about $10.

Two other colonial houses are worth seeking out: Mansión Carvajal, with its massive Carrera marble stairway and black-and-white checkerboard tile floors, once belonged to one of the Yucatán's wealthiest land owners. Casa del Teniente del Rey ("House of the King's Lieutenant") is one of four homes built for the Spanish king's right-hand men.

The Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción (Calle 55 between Calles 8 and 10), whose crown-shaped bell towers dominate the plaza, stands where Montejo first built a lime-and-pebble, thatch-roof chapel. This sober Baroque edifice replaced the chapel two centuries later. Though relentlessly sacked by pirates for its gold decorations, the interior is a vision of marble, stone and gold leaf. The clock, added in 1916, still keeps Campeche's time today, and Sunday Mass fills the cathedral to capacity.

Among the cathedral's worthy attendants are the Ex-Templo de San José, a massive church with a lighthouse incongruously crowning one of its Moorish spires; and Iglesia de San Roque, built in 1565, whose deceptively plain exterior conceals an elaborately carved altarpiece that has been restored inch by inch.

Up against the wall

Most of the original city wall has been razed and its stones used to pave city streets. Two entrances remain: The reconstructed Puerta del Mar (Sea Gate, Calles 8 and 59), which opened onto a wharf, and the original Puerta de Tierra (Land Gate, Calles 59 and 18), built in 1732 to admit campechanos from the suburbs. The Land Gate houses a small museum and stages Luz y Sonido, a variation on the light-and-sound shows popular at archaeological sites throughout the Yucatán. Re-enacting pirate tales from Campeche's rich lore, it's a little campy with all the cannon blasts and flashing lights but fun and undeniably appropriate to its subject.

Seven of the wall's eight baluartes, or bastions, still stand along Avenida Circuito Baluartes, which rings the historic center along the old wall's path. The best walk in this most walkable of cities is atop the one remaining (mostly reconstructed) chunk of the crenelated wall, from Baluarte San Juan, the smallest bastion, to the Land Gate. From 26 feet above the street, you can see all the historic center and out to sea and over the modern city to the east.

Four baluartes house small museums displaying folk art, findings from Edzná and other ruins, and a model of the colonial city. My favorite is Baluarte de Santiago's Jardín Botanico X'much Haltún, a botanical garden with more than 200 species of tropical plants, including an enormous ceiba tree, the Mayas' symbol of the link between heaven, earth and the underworld.

The city's two primary museums reside in its 18th century hilltop forts, where sweeping views vie with the exhibits for attention. The most imposing is Fuerte San Miguel, about 2 miles south of the old city. It was positioned to blast enemy ships out of the Bay of Campeche, and its roof deck is lined with long-range cannons. Inside, the Museo de la Cultura Maya displays artifacts from archaeological sites throughout the state, including burial masks and the jade-festooned mummy of Yichak Kak, one of most powerful kings of Calakmul (see "Side trips").

In San Miguel's northern counterpart, Reducto de San Jose el Alto, pirates are well-represented in the Museo de Barcas y Armas, which focuses, as its name suggests, on boats and weapons. Locals stream to both forts at night to enjoy glittering city views.

Walk like a campechano

Beauty and history get you only so far; the warm-hearted campechanos are the reason to linger in Campeche. The place to mingle most evenings is the palm-lined malecón with its seafront jogging and biking path, punctuated by fountains, cannons, exercise equipment, statues and gardens. Sunsets are sublime; as the steamy heat eases and the fountains light up in neon colors, locals promenade in the sea breeze and couples nuzzle on the built-in benches. In clear weather, the waning light bathes the colonial center in a soft, celestial glow. If a thunderstorm rolls in off the Gulf, you have a light-and-sound show that puts the Land Gate's display to shame.

Not many tourists have the fortitude to join in La Lotería at the Parque Principal on a weekend night (and during most festivals), but it is a uniquely Campechan experience. This beloved game is basically bingo, but with pictures instead of letters. The caller, usually wearing traditional garb, calls out "9 barrels," for example, or "13 rabbits." Players pay a peso per card, and even if your Spanish is limited, others will keep an eye on your card and alert you if necessary. The lucky ones end the evening a few pesos richer.

Soderbergh, ironically, had to tone down Campeche's beauty to film "The Argentine," mucking up the facades to evoke Cuba at its seediest and temporarily ripping out anything that looked new. Scenes of decaying walls, a train derailment or tanks storming cobblestone streets won't likely inspire audiences to rush to Campeche. I'd like to say I'm sorry, because this gracious city deserves to profit from its beauty and its soulful culture. But I'm just selfish enough to hope Campeche remains among the dwindling number of Mexican destinations that revolve around local life rather than tourism.

If you go

Note: Phone numbers are given as dialed within Mexico. To call from the United States, dial 011-52 and the listed number.

Getting there

Campeche's small international airport serves Mexican airlines, but flying to Mérida and making the 2 1/2-hour trip south by car or bus is cheaper; if you're on this side of the peninsula, you're probably going there anyway.

Getting around

Most of Campeche's sights, restaurants and hotels are within the wall's perimeter or within a short walk; driving is tough in the historic center, where streets are narrow and parking is scarce.

Where to eat

Campeche is known for its ultra-fresh seafood. The famous specialty is pan de cazón, baby shark layered with tortillas, refried beans and tomato sauce. For an inexpensive introduction to campechano cuisine, sample the home-cooked fare at food stalls around the plaza on weekend evenings. Camarones al coco (shrimp with coconut) and pulpo (octopus) in endless variations are other specialties.

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